Paris to introduce self-service electric car scheme

The Bluecar at the Paris motor show in September. Manufacturer Bollore has won the Autolib contract to station 3.000 of the electric cars across the French capital. Photograph: Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images

Thursday 16 December 2010 11.33 EST
First published on Thursday 16 December 2010 11.33 EST

First Parisians were urged to get on their bikes with an innovative self-service cycle scheme. Now residents of the French capital and tourists who embraced the Vélib bicycle hire scheme will soon be able to zip around town in environmentally friendly electric cars for less than the price of the average bottle of vin de table.

The Autolib scheme, due to be introduced next autumn, will see 3,000 bubble-shaped, battery-powered cars stationed at 1,000 self-service hire points across the city and its suburbs.

The mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, has announced that the city authorities have selected a four-seat vehicle produced by the French company Bolloré, run by the charismatic industrialist and businessman Vincent Bolloré.

The Bluecar, designed by Bolloré's Italian partners Pininfarina, is powered by a lithium metal polymer battery created by the company allowing them to travel about 250km (155 miles) between charges. Thebatteries will take four hours to charge.

With a maximum speed of 130kph (approximately 80mph) and acceleration of 0 to 60kph in 6.3 seconds the blue car will not break any records, but is designed for short journeys around town for the 58% of Parisians who do not own a car and the additional 16% who own a car but use it less than once a month.

Autolib drivers will need a full driving licence and will have to subscribe to the scheme for €12 – just over £10 – a month. After that they will pay €5 for the first half an hour, €4 for the next and €6 for each subsequent 30-minute slot, encouraging short hops.

Annick Lepetit, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of transport, said she hoped the scheme would attract between 160,000 and 200,000 subscribers to break even.

Delanoë has made no secret of his ambition to reduce the number of cars in Paris introducing restrictive road schemes and establishing a vast network of cycle lanes, much to the chagrin of drivers.

In 2007 he introduced the Vélib scheme – the name combines vélo and liberté, the French words for bicycle and freedom. Despite problems with theft and vandalism, the scheme has taken off and has been copied by cities around the world including London. Today the clunky grey 20kg Vélib bicycles are an established feature of Paris life.

The Paris city authorities said a study they commissioned showed the average car in the capital spends about 95% of its time parked.

Bolloré has invested €60m in the Autolib project, which is expected to cost more than €110m in total.

For those worried about finding their way around the French capital, the Autolib will come with built-in GPS and an emergency call button.

• This article was amended on 17 December 2010. The original referred to acceleration of 0 to 60 in a snail-like 6.3 seconds. This has been corrected.